Method and system for nozzle compensation in non-contact material deposition

ABSTRACT

A method of printing is provided where printing is using a first printing unit having redundant nozzles. Then, the method may include stopping the printing with the first printing unit while continuing the printing with active nozzles of a second printing unit. The method may include inspecting the first printing unit and identifying faulty nozzles, then designating the faulty nozzles as inactive and designating inactive nozzles of the first printing unit as a new active nozzle. According to some embodiments the method may include moving the first printing unit to an inspection zone prior to inspecting while continuing the printing with active nozzles of a second printing unit and moving the first printing unit back to the printing zone after inspection and continuing the printing with the first printing unit.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patentapplication No. 61/073,889, filed on Jun. 19, 2008. The presentapplication is also a Continuation-in-part application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/134,294, filed on Jun. 6, 2008, which is aContinuation-in-part patent application of PCT International applicationNo. PCT/IL2007/001468, entitled “Inkjet Printing System With MovablePrint Heads And Methods Thereof”, filed on Nov. 28, 2007, which in turnclaims priority from U.S. provisional application No. 60/867,423,entitled “Configurable Drop-On-Demand Printing System”, filed on Nov.28, 2006, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to printing generally and to drop ondemand (DOD) inkjet printing in particular.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Deposition printing, such as for example Drop on demand (DOD) inkjetprinting or aerosol printing, is known in the art. Such printing may betypically used for low speed, low volume print jobs, such as, forexample, large format digital printing for the signage market, and lowquantity printing of textiles.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 1 and 2 which together illustrate a priorart one pass in-line printer system 100. System 100 comprises a conveyor120 on which print media 10 is placed, static jetting arrays 140 whichdrop ink onto print media 10 and a jetting controller 150 whichindicates to jetting arrays 140 when and how to print to produce aprinted image 115 as per input image data 155.

One or more jetting arrays 140 may be used to print each color that maybe used by a print job. One or more additional jetting arrays 140 mayalso be dedicated to the application of additional coatings or varnishesas required. As illustrated in FIG. 2, a jetting array 140 is organizedinto print units 160. The print units are static with respect to eachother. Each print unit 160 consists of one or more print heads 170, andeach print head 170 may have several dozen or even hundreds of nozzles180, although for the sake of clarity, only a few are shown in FIG. 2.Multiple print heads 170 may be used together to speed up the printprocess and/or to print images of varying degrees of resolution.

Jetting controller 150 (FIG. 1) transmits a stream of commands tojetting arrays 140 that control the jetting of nozzles 180 in order totranslate image data 155 to printed image 115. As print media 10 passesunderneath jetting arrays 140, jetting arrays 140 may remain in a staticposition and nozzles 180 can then jet onto print media 10. Each nozzle180 may jet thousands of drops per second during the printing process.

Nozzles 180 may suffer defects that may partially or wholly impair theireffectiveness. Such nozzles may stop jetting or may jet poorly. Suchdefects may be of either a temporary, or a permanent nature.

DOD inkjet systems and other deposition printing systems, such asaerosol jetting printing system or a dispenser, may therefore requirefrequent maintenance to prevent or repair such defects, and to ensurethe ongoing reliability of the dispensing heads. Such maintenance mayinclude, for example, in the case of inkjet, purging the nozzles withliquid or air, wiping and/or brushing the nozzles and/or the orificeplate, fire jetting with the entire group of nozzles or part of them,heating or cooling the nozzles, or washing the heads with liquids.Nozzles with permanent defects may be replaced.

Typically, such maintenance may be performed several times during aprinting hour. Repeated stoppage of the printing process to performmaintenance may slow down the printing process and consequently raisethe cost of printing. Conversely, failure to perform timely maintenanceof the nozzles may result in poorer print quality and higher equipmentcosts as a higher percentage of nozzles may be permanently damaged andmay need to be replaced.

The most common implementation of DOD inkjets for printing applications,such as graphic arts and others, entails multiple passes over the samearea. The jetting heads pass over the same area a number of times, eachtime with a small shift so that each nozzle jets in several slightlydifferent locations. The resulting print area for a given nozzle maytherefore be overlapped by the print area for one or more other nozzles.Since the same area is printed by more than one nozzle, theseoverlapping print areas may serve to mitigate the effects of a defectivenozzle that jets poorly or not at all. Accordingly, the use of suchmultiple pass jetting with overlapping print areas may enable a systemto create quality prints even with several defective nozzles. It ishighly desired to have a one pass jetting system capable of compensatingfor defective nozzles to enable creating quality prints.

Non-contact material deposition printing is an appealing method forpatterning and depositing materials in the printed electronics and solarcell industries. For example, forming conductive lines by directlydepositing conductive materials on the back or front surface of thesolar cell to provide a conduction path for the charge generated by thecell may increase the efficiency of the solar cell as well as theproductivity of mass-manufacturing.

Deposition printing techniques, such as ink jet printing or aerosolprinting involves depositing droplets of print material from nozzles bymoving a print head and a substrate relative to one another along aprinting direction. One of the problems associated with depositionprinting is faulty nozzles that may stop jetting or may jet poorly.Accordingly, a faulty nozzle may result in uneven conductive lines whichmay lead to inefficient or inoperative solar cells.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed outand distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification.The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation,together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best beunderstood by reference to the following detailed description when readwith the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 together are a schematic illustration of a prior art onepass in-line printer system 100;

FIGS. 3 and 4 together are a schematic illustration of an exemplaryprinting system according to embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustration of an operating method according toembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view of movable print unit according toexemplary embodiments the present invention;

FIG. 6B is a schematic illustration of a close-up view of a portion ofan exemplary printing system according to embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 7, 9A, 10A, and 11A are schematic illustrations of differentstates of movable print units according to embodiments of the invention;

FIGS. 8, 9B, 10B, and 11B are magnified views of exemplary printoutsfrom the print units of FIGS. 7, 9A, 10A and 11A, respectively;

FIGS. 12A and 12B together illustrate a method of printing with variablewidths during the course of a print job according to embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary printing system according to embodiments ofthe invention;

FIG. 14 shows printing units having redundant nozzles and positionedparallel to the print direction helpful in demonstrating embodiments ofthe invention; and

FIG. 15 is a flowchart diagram illustrating a method for printingaccording to some embodiments of the present invention.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration,elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale.For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggeratedrelative to other elements for clarity. Further, where consideredappropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures toindicate corresponding or analogous elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that thepresent invention may be practiced without these specific details. Inother instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have notbeen described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.

Although embodiments of the invention are not limited in this regard,discussions utilizing terms such as, for example, “processing,”“computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” “establishing”, “analyzing”,“checking”, or the like, may refer to operation(s) and/or process(es) ofa computer, a computing platform, a computing system, or otherelectronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform datarepresented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities within thecomputer's registers and/or memories into other data similarlyrepresented as physical quantities within the computer's registersand/or memories or other information storage medium that may storeinstructions to perform operations and/or processes.

Although embodiments of the invention are not limited in this regard,the terms “plurality” and “a plurality” as used herein may include, forexample, “multiple” or “two or more”. The terms “plurality” or “aplurality” may be used throughout the specification to describe two ormore components, devices, elements, units, parameters, or the like.

Some embodiments of the invention are directed to a deposition printingsystem that includes two or more print units capable of moving withrespect to each other during printing. In the description below ademonstrative embodiment of an inkjet printing system is illustrated. Itshould be, however, understood to a person skill in the art thatembodiments of the invention are not limited in this respect and othersuitable deposition printing systems may be used, such as, an aerosolprinting system, a dispenser and others.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 3 and 4, which together illustrate anexemplary inkjet printing system 200 according to embodiments of theinvention. System 200 is capable of executing continuous high speed,high volume print jobs without frequently stopping for maintenance.Similar reference numerals refer to similar units.

Printing system 200 may include conveyor 120, defining the width of aprint area, on which print media 10 is placed, one or more jetting arrayhousings 250 laterally positioned in fixed positions facing conveyor120, a controller 270 to control the printing process and one or moremaintenance stations 255. Each housing 250 may have a designatedmaintenance station 255 that may be set in close proximity to itsassociated jetting array alongside conveyer 120. Printing system 200 mayfurther include a visual detector 256, such as camera or charge coupleddevice (CCD) coupled to controller 270 and positioned in proximity tomaintenance station 255 to inspect the status and condition of nozzlesof print units located at the maintenance area. Any other suitablevisual detector capable of inspecting the nozzles may be used.

Printing system 200 may include, attached to each jetting array housing,two or more movable print units 220 capable of moving with respect toeach other during printing. Print heads 220 may move in a directionsubstantially perpendicular to the print direction represented by thedirection of advance of conveyer 120. Each of the print units mayinclude one or more print heads located in fixed positions within themovable print unit. The relative positioning of the print units withrespect to each other form particular head arrangement capable of beingdynamically changed during printing (on the fly).

For a given head arrangement, the desired functionality of each of printunits 220 may be determined by controller 270. For example, print unit220A may be designated as an idle print unit to indicate that the printunit temporarily does not actively jet participate and can move to themaintenance area. The remaining print units, 220B-220E may be designatedas active print units to indicate that they are currently involved inprinting, namely, at least one of their nozzles may jet according to theimage data. According to embodiments of the invention, one or more ofprint units, for example unit 220D may be designated as compensatingprint unit having the role of compensating for defect nozzles belongingto at least another print unit, for example 220C. Therefore, both printunits 220D and 220C print wherein print unit 220C jets from its nozzlesaccording to the image data excluding the defective nozzles and printunit 220D jets only from nozzles that may replace the defective nozzlesof print unit 220D.

Although print units 220A-220D are described as associated with aninkjet printing system, it should be, however, understood to a personskilled in the art that embodiments of the invention are not limited inthis respect and the print units according to other embodiments of theinvention may be associated with other suitable deposition printingsystems, such as an aerosol printing system or a dispenser.

It should be understood to a person skilled in the art that, over time,each print unit 220 may be designated as either “active”, “idle” or“compensating”, according to its current functionality. According toembodiments of the invention, the timing of the role changing of theprint units is determined so as to maintain substantially evendistribution of workload between the print units. Further, according toembodiments of the invention, in order to maintain substantially evendistribution of workload between nozzles within one print unit, theprint unit may be moved, from time to time, with respect to other printunits to enable activation of previously inactive nozzles.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the invention, each print unit220 may include four print heads, each having 192 nozzles. It should beunderstood however to a person skilled in the art that the invention isnot limited to such an arrangement and according to embodiments of theinvention, any suitable numbers of print heads and nozzles areapplicable.

Controller 270 may dictate the movement of various movable print units220, with respect to each other, within and without the print area, totheir associated maintenance stations. Controller 270 may controlmovement of the print units to dynamically change the head arrangementduring the printing.

In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, controller 270may track the maintenance schedule of movable print units 220. When amovable print unit, here labeled 220A, requires maintenance, controller270 may determine the current status functionality of the unit to beidle and instruct a motor unit 230 coupled to print unit 220A to move toits maintenance station 255. Since maintenance stations 255 aregenerally located alongside conveyor 120, printing system 200 maycontinue to print while movable print unit 220A undergoes maintenance.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, movable print units 220 are located in jettingarray housing 230 and may be moved along sliders 240. Such movement mayextend most of each movable print unit 220 beyond the extent of jettingarray housing 230 to maintenance station 255. It will be appreciatedthat maintenance stations 255 are located outside of a print area asdefined by the area underneath “active” movable print units 220.

Reference is now made to FIG. 5 which illustrates a method according toembodiments of the invention by which system 200 may perform maintenancewhile continuing to print. As shown in FIG. 5, when, for example,movable print unit 220B requires maintenance (step 280), controller 270may issue (step 282) a command to another movable unit 220A, which maybe idle at the time, to slide back into jetting array housing 230.Controller 270 may then designate movable print unit 220A as active(step 284) and movable print unit 220B may then be designated the idleprint unit (step 286) and may then adjust the jetting commands (step288) based on the change in status of movable print units 220A and 220B.The jetting commands are adjusted due to the fact that the physicallocation of movable print unit 220A differs from the physical locationoccupied by movable print unit 220B. Controller 270 may then wait for acycle where movable print unit 220B may not be in actual use beforeissuing (step 290) a command to movable print unit 220B to move alongslider 240B (arrow 260B) to maintenance station 255.

While in maintenance station 255, print heads 210 in movable print unit220 may undergo various maintenance procedures including, for example,purging the nozzles with liquid or air, wiping and/or brushing thenozzles and/or the orifice plate, fire jetting with the entire group ofnozzles or part of them, heating or cooling the nozzles, or washing theheads with liquids. Nozzles with permanent defects may also be replaced.The print unit may be inspected prior to performing the maintenanceoperations using manual inspection or automatic inspection usingdetector 256. According to embodiments of the invention, based on theinspection result, it may be determined if the print unit requiremaintenance and if so what maintenance operations to perform.

After maintenance is completed, movable print unit 220 may be examined.This examination may be an automated procedure using detector 256 and/ormay employ a manual operator. The examination may also include a visualinspection of the movable print unit 220 and print heads 210. A testprint may be performed and the measurement of the resulting drop shapesand weights may be checked using either manual procedures or automatedtest equipment. Various characteristics of movable print unit 220 mayalso be measured, including, for example, temperature, electronic pulsesand/or pulse shapes. The registration and alignment of print heads 210may also be measured.

The examination results may then be analyzed to detect, for example,missing nozzles, weak nozzles, crooked nozzles, a drop volume that isnot proper, and/or misalignment of print heads 210. Depending on theerrors detected, another maintenance session may be required, one ormore print heads 210 may be replaced, and/or printing may continue withmovable print unit 220. It may be possible to compensate for somedefects by using jetting controller 150 to adjust the printingparameters for the affected print head 210. Such parameters may include,for example, jetting pulse, shape, amplitude and/or temperature.

After analysis of the examination results and adjustment of anyparameters as needed, the idle movable print unit 220 may then beavailable to replace another movable print unit 220 due for maintenance.

It will be appreciated that there may be more than one idle movableprint unit 220 in a given head arrangement. The number of “idle” and“active” movable print units 220 may be configured in accordance with anoperator's requirements for speed, resolution, and frequency ofmaintenance.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6A which is a cross-sectional view of onemovable print unit 220. Movable print unit 220 may comprise print heads210, a translation apparatus 215 and slider 240. Translation apparatus215 may comprise connecting brackets 310, slider guide carriages 320, alead screw driving nut 330, and a lead screw 340.

Slider guide carriages 320 may straddle slider 240, and movable printunit 220 may be connected to slider guide carriages 320 via connectingbrackets 310. Lead screw driving nut 330 may also be affixed to movableprint unit 220 via connecting brackets 310. Lead screw 340 may runthrough lead screw driving nut 330 such that, when lead screw 340 turns,movable print unit 220 may move along slider 240.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6B, which illustrates a close-up view ofportion of a printing system, the “home position area”, according toembodiments of the present invention. The home position area mayinclude, for example, lead screws 340, home flags 350 (attached tomovable print units 220), couplings 360, stepper motors 370, homeposition sensors 380 and configurable jetting array housing 230.

Home flags 350 may be used to determine whether or not movable printunits 220 may be in their home position. As such, home position sensors380 may be mounted on jetting array housing 230, opposite home flags 350which are attached to the end of movable print units 220. When, forexample, system 200 is powered up, movable print units 220 may be movedto a home position, such that home flag 350 may be sensed by homeposition sensor 380. Home position sensors 380 may be, for example,optical or electrical proximity sensors.

Controller 270 may then register each movable print unit 220 as being inthe home position. When movable print unit 220 may be designated formovement, for example to the maintenance area, stepper motor 370 may beused to turn lead screw 340. Controller 270 may then track the newposition of print units 220 by calculating the offset defined by thedifference between the home position and the movement generated bystepper motor 370.

According to embodiments of the invention, the positions of the printunit, both the initial positions relative to each other and the changesin the positions of the units in the print area during printing may bedetermined by performing an optimization calculation. The optimizationcalculation may be stochastic calculation based on image data and/ornozzle status data. For example, based on the knowledge that aparticular nozzle of a particular print unit is defective and that apotion of the image is blank, the optimization calculation may assignthe print head having the most defective nozzles to be positioned abovethe area that is not to be printed.

It will be appreciated that as described herein above, printing system200 may provide continuous DOD one pass printing without frequentstoppages for maintenance.

In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, printing system 200may not be configured for one pass printing. For example, printingsystem 200 may be configured for web printing or multiple pass printing.

Applicants have realized that movable print units 220 may be configuredto increase the speed of a print job or alternatively to increase theresolution by multiple-layer printing. Accordingly, in some embodimentsof the present invention, printing system 200 may be configured to printwith higher speeds.

Reference is now made to FIG. 7, which illustrates the active movableprint units 220 in an exemplary print head arrangement. Each print head210 may have several dozen or even hundreds of nozzles 420, although forthe sake of clarity, only a few are shown in FIG. 7. Reference is alsomade to FIG. 8, which illustrates a magnified view of an exemplaryprintout from such a print head arrangement. FIG. 7 also shows steppermotors 370 and lead screws 340 which may control the movement of movableprint units 220. As in the previous embodiments, similar referencenumerals refer to similar units.

It will be appreciated that all movable print units 220 in FIG. 7 may beconfigured in precise alignment, such that they may occupy parallelpositions along the same print axis when printing in a printingdirection 410. In FIG. 8, output lines 460 represent the combined printoutput from nozzles 420. Output from nozzles 420A is represented as “/”;output from nozzles 420B is represented as “\”; and output from nozzles420C is represented as “+”.

Such an alignment may enable printing system 200 to print at a higherspeed. Since nozzles 420A, 420B and 420C may each respectively jet overthe same location, controller 270 may instruct nozzles 420 to printsimultaneously in mutually exclusive contiguous print areas usinginterlacing printing.

FIG. 8 illustrates the results of such instruction. Each print line 460comprises a repeating pattern of output 451 from nozzles 420A, 420B, and420C. Each respective pattern of output 451 is comprised of three nozzleoutputs 452, representing the output from nozzles 420A, 420B and 420C.It will be appreciated that since nozzles 420A, 420B and 420C may printsimultaneously, the time required to print each respective pattern ofoutput 451 may be equal to the time required for each respective nozzle420. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that in such a configurationprinting system 200 may print at a speed which is three times as fast.

It will further be appreciated, that such an alignment where each lineis printed by several different nozzles, may improve print quality andresult in better image quality As each line of output may be printed bya multiplicity of nozzles 420, the effect of a given missing ordefective nozzle 420 may be less noticeable since other nozzles 420 mayalso be printing on the same line.

It will further be appreciated, that such an alignment where each lineis printed by several different nozzles may increase print resolutionand material per dot throughput and may enable multiple-layer printing.According to some embodiments of the invention, controller 270 mayinstruct nozzles 420A, 420B and 420C to jet consecutively over the samelocation so as to increase the amount of material per dot by three.

In a typical DOD printing system (such as in FIGS. 1 and 2), it is notuncommon that the nozzles on a given print head may print in slightlydifferent strengths. This may be caused by a combination ofcircumstances, including, for example, the distance from the ink sourceto a nozzle; temperature variances within the print head; dust andimpurities in the print head; and defects caused by extended use. Itwill be appreciated that such differences may also exist when comparingthe relative strength of nozzle output from different print heads andmovable print units 220.

It will therefore be appreciated that the exemplary print outillustrated in FIG. 8 may not be of a uniform and consistent strength.For many print jobs this level of print quality may be acceptable.However, there may be print jobs, for example when printing a uniformcolor background when a more homogeneous output is required. Accordingto embodiments of the present invention, controller 270 may finelyadjust the location of movable print units 220 within jetting arrayhousing 230 to enable a homogeneous coverage of the print area for adesired resolution.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 9A which shows an exemplary headarrangement configured according to embodiments of the invention in sucha manner as to provide a more complete and homogeneous coverage of theprint area. Movable print units 220A, 220B and 220C may each includethree print heads 211, 212 and 213. Reference is also made to FIG. 9Bwhich represents an exemplary printed output from such an headarrangement. Similar reference numerals refer to similar units.

It may be unlikely that that all nozzles 420 have the same jettingstrength. For example, nozzles 420A on movable print unit 220A maygenerally jet more weakly than nozzles 420B on movable print unit 220B,or print heads 212 may generally jet more weakly than print heads 211and 213. There may even be variances of jetting strength among thedifferent nozzles 420 in the same print head 211, 212 or 213. Controller270 may use data regarding the relative strengths of nozzles 420 todetermine a homogenized print head arrangement for movable print units220. The homogenized print head arrangement may be determined bystochastic optimization calculations. The data may be delivered tocontroller 270 from visual detector 256 or from other sources.

Based on such homogenized print configuration, controller 270 mayinstruct stepper motors 370 to move print units 220 within the printarea. As in the previous embodiments, motors 370, for example steppermotors, may move movable print units 220 by turning lead screws 340.However, according to embodiments of the present invention, suchmovement may be in very small increments. In such a manner, the activemovable print units 220 may be staggered slightly in generallyequidistant increments over the print area. Accordingly, when printingin printing direction 410, the nozzles 420 for each print unit 220 maynot be aligned along identical print axes with the associated nozzles420 of the other print units 220.

As shown in FIG. 9B, print lines 460A, 460B, 460C may now each belocated on slightly different print axes, such that there may now bethree times as many effective print lines 460 when compared, forexample, to the previous embodiment of FIG. 8. It will be appreciatedthat, depending on the number and density of nozzles 420, the effectiveprint axes may now be contiguous or even overlapping, such that a givenprint area will typically be covered by multiple nozzles 420 from morethan one movable unit 220. Furthermore, such print areas may now becovered by nozzles 420 from multiple print heads 211, 212 and 213 withvarying jetting strengths. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that fora given combination of print conditions, the overall coverage of theprint area may be more homogenous when movable print units are staggeredover the print area.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the print headarrangement may be adjusted to compensate for missing or defectivenozzles 420.

As described hereinabove, after movable print units 220 undergomaintenance, they may then be examined and/or tested to detectpersistent defects that may not have been remedied by the maintenancesession. It is expected that some nozzles 420 may have such persistentdefects after maintenance is performed. In such cases, movable printunits 220 may be submitted for another maintenance session, or may havesome of its component parts replaced. It is also possible that theentire movable print unit may need to be replaced. According toembodiments of the invention, detector may send an alert to controller270 notifying that a replacement of one or more print heads is needed.It may also be expected that some movable print units 220, withrelatively few missing or defective nozzles 420, may be returned to“active” status even though their use may affect the quality of theprint job.

According to embodiments of the present invention, one of print units220 may be designated as a replacement unit (RU) or compensating unitfor missing and/or defective nozzles 420 of another print unit 220. Ifone or more nozzles 420 are detected as missing or defective in amovable print unit 220, RU may be moved and located in position toprovide jetting action in place of the missing and/or defective nozzles420.

FIGS. 10A and 10B, to which reference is now made, together illustratepossible effects of a given alignment of movable print units 220 on thequality of output lines 460. Movable print units 220 may have a numberof defective nozzles 421 that may have been identified in a previousmaintenance session. For example, defective nozzle 421A may be locatedon movable print unit 220A, and defective nozzle 421C may be located onmovable print unit 220C. Print axes 430A and 430C may represent theprint path of nozzles 421A and 421 C when printing in a print direction410. Similar reference numerals refer to similar units.

As shown in FIG. 10A, the location of defective nozzle 421A may dictatea print axis 430A, and the location of defective nozzle 421C may dictatea print axis 430C. Accordingly, while defective nozzles 421A and 421Cmay be located on different movable print units 220, they may beassigned to jet on contiguous or overlapping print axes. FIG. 10B showsthe results of such printing. A noticeable gap 470 appears among thelines of printed output 460 where defective nozzles 421A and 421C weresupposed to have jetted.

Reference is now made to FIG. 11A which shows the print units configuredin a particular print head arrangement as to compensate for theexistence of defective nozzles 421A and 421C in movable print units 220Aand 220C, respectively. Reference is also made to FIG. 11B whichrepresents an exemplary printed output from such a print headarrangement. Gaps 480A and 480C appear among printed lines 460. Similarreference numerals refer to similar units.

Controller 270 may instruct stepper motors 370 to move print unit 220Cslightly in order to provide distance between the print axes 430 ofdefective nozzles 421A and 421C respectively. According to embodimentsof the invention, controller 270 may determine the desired headarrangement based on stochastic optimization calculations taking intoconsideration the nozzle status data. According to some embodiments, theoptimization calculation may further be based on the specific imagedata. It will be appreciated that other print units 220, for exampleunit 220A, may also be moved as needed.

In the resulting exemplary print head arrangement, movable print unit220C has moved to a new position, thus creating distance between theprint axes 430C and 430A of defective nozzles 421C and 421A whenprinting along print direction 410. As shown in FIG. 11B, two smallergaps 480C and 480A are shown among printed lines 460.

It will be appreciated that smaller gaps 480C and 480A may be lessnoticeable than gap 470 and may be invisible to the naked eye. It willfurther be appreciated, that movable print units 220 may be configuredin such a manner that printed characters 460 may be on overlapping printaxes. In such print head arrangements, gaps 480A and 480C may beeliminated in part or in entirety as other nozzles 420 may jet on theprint area nominally covered by defective nozzles 421.

According to embodiments of the present invention, movable print units220 may also be configured in such a manner as to more efficiently printa printed image with variable widths. This may be facilitated byextending and/or retracting movable print units 220 over a wider printarea before and/or during the course of a print job.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 12A and 12B which together illustrate howmovable print units 220 may be moved to print with variable widthsduring printing. As shown in FIG. 12A, printing unit 200 may comprise amultiplicity of movable print units 220 configured in parallel to printin a narrow print area “N” in a direction 410. It will be appreciatedthat, as described hereinabove, such a configuration may be used, forexample, to increase the speed or resolution of a print job.

However, such a configuration may not be sufficiently wide to print awider print area. For such cases, it may be necessary to move printunits 220 into a new print head arrangement as shown in FIG. 12B.Stepper motors 370 may extend lead screws 340, thus moving movable printunits 220B, as required, to provide coverage for additional print area“W”.

It will be appreciated that movable print units 220A may remain in placeand continue printing in print area N. However, such printing may now beat a lower speed, or alternatively, the resolution may be lower.

It will also be appreciated that movable print units 220B may beretracted and returned to their original locations (as shown in FIG.12A) for subsequent ports of the print job that do not require widerprint coverage. The print speed and/or resolution may then be adjustedaccordingly.

It will further be appreciated that the configurations in FIGS. 12A and12B are exemplary. Other configurations may also be used. For example, Nand W may be of different widths. Furthermore, non symmetricconfigurations may be used to print areas N and W with differentresolutions, and staggered non parallel movable print units 220 may beused instead of the generally parallel units 220 shown in FIGS. 12A and12B.

Embodiments of the invention may be applicable to a variety of printingsystems and methods. For the sake of clarity and simplicity exemplaryembodiments and references of non-contact material deposition systemswill mostly be for the application of fabrication of conducting metallines for solar cells using an inkjet system. However, the scope of theinvention is not limited by such exemplary embodiments and may beapplied to other deposition systems, such an aerosol jet depositionsystem or a dispenser and to other applications, such as graphics,press, mass media, packaging, electronics and others.

Embodiments of the invention are directed to a system and method forinspection of print nozzles while a print process or a print job is inprogress and replacing actively printing nozzles as needed. According toembodiments, the system may comprise redundant print heads or printingunits such that the number of print heads may be higher than the numberof print head required to perform a desired printing task. At any giventime during printing a portion of the heads may be active while theremaining print head may be redundant heads.

According, while a print process is in progress, a first subset selectedfrom a plurality of print heads installed in a system would bedesignated to deposit material on a substrate, a second, differentsubset of print heads may be subjected to, or undergo a maintenanceprocedure. For example, while a first print head is actively depositingmaterial on a substrate, a second print head may be relocated from aprinting area or zone to an inspection, service or maintenance area.While the second print head is being inspected, serviced, repaired orotherwise subjected to a maintenance procedure, the first print head maycontinue to print and/or deposit material.

In some embodiments, the method may include printing lines on asubstrate, for example printing contact lines on a semiconductor waferby depositing material from a printing unit having nozzles arranged inone or more rows. According to embodiments, the printing unit maycomprise redundant nozzles. The number of nozzles in a printing unit maybe larger than the number of nozzles needed to accomplish a desiredprinting task, for example printing a line at a desired resolution. Atany given time during printing a portion of the nozzles within aprinting unit may be active while the remaining nozzles may be redundantor inactive. The printing is done only by nozzles designated as activenozzles while the remaining nozzles are designated as inactive nozzles.Within a particular row, material may be selectively deposited

The method may further include moving the printing unit to an inspectionzone while continuing the printing with active nozzles of anotherprinting unit, which may perform the tasks of the former printing unit.In the inspection zone the nozzles are inspected and one of the activenozzles may be identified as a faulty nozzle. According to someembodiments, the inspection may be done at the printing zone withoutmoving the printing unit to the inspection zone.

Then, the identified faulty nozzle may be designated as inactive and oneof the previously designated as inactive nozzles may become an activenozzle to replace the faulty nozzle. The method may further includemoving the printing unit back from the inspection zone to the printingzone and continue printing with that unit such that the new activenozzle would replace the faulty nozzle.

According to embodiments of the invention, after all the nozzles areinspected in the inspection zone or the printing zone, the system mayanalyze the inspection data and may choose a best set of nozzles to bethe active nozzles based on predetermined considerations. Then, thechosen nozzles may be designated or specified as active nozzles whilethe remaining nozzles of the printing unit would be designated asinactive. Determining the best set of nozzles may be based on a requireddroplet size, stability of jetting and/or choosing nozzles havingsubstantially similar deviation of their jetting direction from a normalto the nozzle plate (orifice plate). Other parameters may be taken intoconsideration for choosing the best set of nozzles without departingfrom the scope of the invention.

Reference is made to FIG. 13 showing a high-level block diagram of anexemplary printing system according to exemplary embodiments of theinvention. The exemplary system, denoted system 1000 may be capable ofexecuting continuous high speed, high volume print jobs withoutfrequently stopping for maintenance or inspection. It will be noted thatsystem 1000 may be applicable to a variety of printing systems, e.g.,inkjet or aerosol dispensing systems. System 1000 may include printingunits or print heads 1050A-1050F, a printing zone 1100, such as aconveyor or platform (not shown) defining the width of a print area, onwhich print media, such as semiconductor wafers may be placed and aservice zone 1250, in which maintenance and inspection of the printingunits and their nozzles may take place.

Service zone 1250 may include one or more maintenance stations toperform various maintenance operations to the printing units. Althoughonly six exemplary printing units are shown, any applicable number ofprinting units may be used without departing from the scope of theinvention. The number of printing units is determined such that at leastone printing unit is redundant. The redundancy enables the simultaneousinspection of non-active nozzles when active nozzles continue with theprinting process. Accordingly, at least one printing unit from units1050A-1050F may be capable of independently moving between printing zone1100 and service zone 1250 while the other printing units remain at theprinting zone and continue with the printing process. Service zone 1250may be near or in close proximity to printing zone 1100. According tosome embodiments of the invention, printing units 1050A-F may be mountedon rails such that they may be moved from printing zone 1100 to servicezone 1250. Any other transport units or mechanisms may be used withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention.

Each printing unit 1050A-F may comprise nozzles 1060 arranged in one ormore rows. In the exemplary illustration of FIG. 13, each row has eightnozzles arranged in parallel to the printing or scanning direction X.However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that eachtow may include tens or hundreds of nozzles. Each row may includeredundant nozzles for substitution of faulty nozzles upon detection. Afaulty nozzle may be, for example, a clogged nozzle that cannot jet anymaterial, a weak or partially clogged nozzle that can jet only a portionfrom the desired amount of material or a nozzle that jet in a directionthat strongly deviates from the direction of jetting of the majority ofthe nozzles.

Printing units 1050A-C may be positioned in proximity to printing zone1100 such that the rows would be parallel to the print direction X. Ifthe substrate in moved by a conveyor, the printing direction may berepresented by the direction of advance of the substrate. In such aconfiguration, each row may print a single metallization line in adirection parallel to the print direction in one scan. Other setups orconfigurations of the printing unit with respect to the print directionare possible according to other embodiments of the invention.

System 1000 may further include a controller 1150 to control theprinting process and an image acquisition unit 1200 coupled tocontroller 1150. According to embodiments of the invention, controller1150 may perform, or be involved in, tasks or functions such as, but notlimited to, coordination, configuration, scheduling, arbitration,supervising, operation and/or management of components of system 1000and their operations. For example, controller 1150 may control themovement of printing units 1050A-F and the printed objects in printingzone 1100. Controller 1150 may comprise any required or suitablehardware, software, firmware or a combination thereof. For example,controller 1150 may be a computing device comprising a controller and/orcentral processing unit (CPU), a memory and input and output units.

Image acquisition unit 1200 may comprise a detector or imaging device1210, such as camera or charge coupled device (CCD) to inspect thestatus and condition of the nozzles by acquiring, for example, images ofdroplets of material that exits the nozzles. Any other suitable visualdetector or any other method of identifying the status of the nozzlesmay be used. Image acquisition unit 1200 may further comprise an imageprocessing unit 1220 to analyze the images and determine the currentstatus of the inspected nozzles and storage 1230 to store data relatedto the status of the nozzles.

According to embodiments of the invention, detector 1210 may be coupledto a dedicated computing and storage device for processing and storingthe captured images or alternatively controller 1150 may perform theseoperations. According to embodiments of the invention, a pulsed lightsource, such as a pulsed laser source or a pulsed light emitting diode(LED) may be coupled to detector 1210 to enable imaging of dropletsbeing deposited from the nozzles. Controller 1150 may further controland manage the inspection procedure, for example coordinating theejection of droplets, the light pulses and the operation of the camera.

Reference is now made to FIG. 14, which illustrates an array of printingunits having redundant nozzles and positioned parallel to the printdirection to demonstrate embodiments of the invention. Printing units2100, 2200 and 2300 may be used to print conductive lines on asemiconductor wafer in the production of solar cells. According toembodiments of the invention, during printing, a first subset of nozzlesmay be designated as active nozzles, for example, nozzles 2240-2280 maybe designated as active. A second subset of nozzles within printing unit2200, for example, nozzles 2210-2230 may be designated as inactive. Uponidentifying that a nozzle, for example, nozzle 2250 is defective, thedefective nozzle may be substituted by any one of the inactive nozzles2210-2230. For example, nozzle 2250 may be re-designated as inactive andnozzle 2220 may be re-designated as active.

According to embodiments of the invention, while a print process is inprogress and while one or more printing units defining a first subset ofprinting units is actively depositing, another one or more printingunits defining a second subset of printing units may move to servicezone 1250 for maintenance and/or inspection. Further, if desired, thestatus of at least one pair of nozzles may be interchanged such that thepreviously active nozzle would become inactive and the previouslyinactive nozzle would become active.

The printing units relocated to service zone 1250 may be inspected,serviced and configured. For example, nozzles may be inspected byacquiring images of droplets dispensed or ejected by nozzles of theinspected unit. The images may then be analyzed by image processing unit1220. Based on the analysis, faulty nozzles may be identified andreplaced by redundant nozzles. Further, various working parameters maybe modified or verified. For example, based on the inspection of anozzle, working parameters such as pressure, temperature or voltage maybe modified.

Referring back to FIG. 13, image processing unit 1220 may receive imagesfrom detector 1210 and process such images by applying any suitableimage processing techniques. For example, analysis of shape, trajectoryand velocity of jetted droplets may be performed by the image processingunit. For example, image processing may be used to determine a conditionof a nozzle based on an image of droplets being ejected from the nozzle.Another example may be comparing two or more images, possibly acquiredover a predefined period of time. By comparing or otherwise relatingimages, various conditions, faults or other aspects of a nozzle may bedetermined. For example, degradation in the performance of a nozzle maybe detected by comparing consecutive or successive images.

While a video camera may provide images related to visible light, otherimages may be produced. For example, detector 1210 may be an infraredcamera that may record temperatures, thus providing a temperaturedistribution of ejected ink or aerosol. While as described herein,imaging device or detector 1210 may be placed at the service area, otherconfigurations are possible. For example, one or more cameras may beplaced near, around or in proximity of a printing area, e.g., area 1100.Such cameras may obtain images during the printing process of nozzlesdepositing material onto a test substrate.

Storage system or unit 1230 may receive and store images acquired bydetector 1210 and/or obtained from a different source, e.g., a remoteserver or a removable storage media such as a compact disk (CD) ormemory chip. For example, reference images of a desired ejection may beloaded into or otherwise stored in a storage device and may be used forcomparing with or otherwise relating to images acquired by detector1210. A reference image may contain an image of an ideal, otherwisedesirable ejection or deposition and thus may be used, for example bycomparing it to a second image in order to determine if an injectionimaged in the second image is acceptable or otherwise determine aquality of the ejection or other functional parameters related to thenozzle from which the imaged droplet has jetted.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the redundancyof the printing unit or print heads may enable dynamically selecting theprint heads that participate in a print process. Accordingly, redundant,spare, unused or idle print heads may exist and/or be available during aprint process. Such redundant print heads may enable dynamic replacementof print heads while a print process is ongoing, active or in progress.For example, if a first print head is active, e.g., activelyparticipating in a print process by depositing material on a media,needs, or is selected to be serviced or inspected, a second, inactive,idle or redundant print head may replace the first print head by beingmade active. Accordingly, the first print head, now being replaced, maybe made inactive and may further be inspected, serviced or be otherwisesubjected to a maintenance procedure.

According to embodiments of the invention, the printing units or printheads may be equipped with redundant nozzles. For example, a print headthat may require one hundred (100) nozzles in order to perform itsintended tasks may be equipped with five hundred (500) nozzles.Accordingly, only a subset of nozzles fitted, included or installed in aprint head may actively participate in a print process, e.g., actuallyeject material onto a surface or media. According to embodiments of theinvention, redundancy of nozzles as described herein may enabledynamically selecting or designating a subset of nozzles as active. Suchredundancy may further enable replacing active nozzles by inactive ones.For example, upon determining that a first nozzle in a print head needsto be replaced or serviced, e.g., due to a malfunction or as part of ascheduled or periodic maintenance routine, a second, inactive orredundant nozzle may be selected, made active, and may replace the firstnozzle by ejecting material onto a surface or media.

Reference is made to FIG. 15 showing a flowchart diagram illustrating amethod for printing according to some embodiments of the presentinvention. As shown by block 3100, the method may include commencing aprint process using a first printing unit or print head. For example,information in a print file may be provided to a printing system such assystem 1000 described in FIG. 13. Provided with such information,controller 1150 may cause a conveyor to locate wafers such that a subsetof nozzles, designated as active nozzles in both printing units 2300 and2200 may deposit conductive material on them. Based on information insuch print file, controller 1150 may control the nozzles and printingunits such that material is deposited according to specifications orparameters in the print file.

As shown by block 3200, the method may include moving the one or moreprinting units, for example printing unit 2200 to a service zone. Duringthe time that the printing unit is being inspected and/or serviced atthe service zone, another printing unit, such as printing unit 210 thatwas previously redundant may become active so that the printing processmay continue with printing units 2100 and 2300. As shown by block 3300,the method may include inspecting the nozzles of printing unit 2000 andidentifying one or more nozzles, for example nozzle 2250 as faulty ordefective nozzle.

The method may include determining whether the fault can be repaired.For example, if a total obstruction of a nozzle's orifice is detected, aprocedure may exist to remove the obstructions from the orifice thusrepairing the fault. Other detected faults may be such that require acomplex, possibly manual procedure in order to be fixed. Classifying afault as one that may be handled or repaired immediately or while aprint process is in progress may be according to various parametersand/or configurations. If the fault may be repaired, flow may includeservicing the nozzle. For example, the working parameters may bemodified or an automated purging procedure may be executed.

As shown by block 3350, the method may include choosing a best set ofnozzles as best nozzles based on the inspection. Accordingly, the methodmay include designating a faulty nozzle as inactive when repair isimpossible or undesirable. Nozzles identified as inactive may notparticipate in the printing process until their status is changed to“active”. As shown by block 3400, the method may comprise designatingthe nozzles of the chosen set as active and the faulty nozzles andremaining nozzles of the printing unit as inactive. For example, themethod may include designating a nozzle, from the same row of the newlyfaulty nozzle that was previously designated an inactive nozzle asactive. For example, after determining that nozzle 2250 is faulty, aredundant nozzle that was previously inactive and did not participate inthe printing process, such as nozzle 2230 may be designated as an activenozzle that would replace the faulty nozzle 2250.

While as described herein, a first, faulty nozzle may be designated asinactive and a second, inactive nozzle may be designated as active inorder to compensate for the faulty nozzle, other scenarios are possible.For example, nozzles with the same printing unit and possibly the samerow may be replaced based on a predefined schedule. For example, inorder to avoid drying of ink in nozzles, nozzles may be designated asactive or inactive periodically. While in some embodiments a firstnozzle may be replaced by a second nozzle, other combinations arepossible. For example, a faulty nozzle may be replaced by two redundantnozzles. For example, such two nozzles may be instructed such that theircombined operation is the same as an expected operation of the faulty,replaced nozzle.

As shown by block 3450, the method may include after the inspection isover, moving the first printing unit back to the printing zone. As otherprint heads may be printing at such time, printing unit 2200 mayreplace, for example, printing unit 2100 in performing the ongoing printprocess and printing unit 2100 may be moved to the service area forinspection. Alternatively, printing unit 2200 may replace, for example,printing unit 2300 in performing the ongoing print process and printingunit 2300 may be moved to the service area for inspection. Accordingly,as shown by block 3500, the method may comprise ceasing to print with aworking printing unit and continuing with the print process using thefirst printing unit. The first printing unit may be for example, unit2200 in which the newly active nozzle, nozzle 2210 replaces thepreviously used and now faulty nozzle 2250.

Embodiments of the invention may include an article such as a computeror processor readable medium, or a computer or processor storage medium,such as for example a memory, a disk drive, or a USB flash memory,encoding, including or storing instructions, e.g., computer-executableinstructions, which when executed by a processor or controller, carryout methods disclosed herein.

While certain features of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, andequivalents will now occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is,therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended tocover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spiritof the invention.

1. A method of printing, the method comprising: printing in a printingzone using a first printing unit having nozzles, a first portion of thenozzles is designated as active nozzles and a second portion of thenozzles is designated as inactive nozzles, wherein the printing is doneby selectively depositing material from the active nozzles of the firstprinting unit; stopping the printing with the first printing unit whilecontinuing the printing with active nozzles of a second printing unit;inspecting the nozzles of the first printing unit; choosing a new set ofactive nozzles based on inspection results; and continuing the printingusing the first printing unit with the new set of active nozzles.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 comprising: moving the first printing unit to aninspection zone prior to inspecting; and moving the first printing unitback to the printing zone for continuing the printing.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the nozzles are arranged in a row having a directionparallel to a scanning direction.
 4. The method of claim 1, whereinprinting comprises printing a line in the scanning direction.
 5. Themethod of claim 1 comprising: identifying one of the active nozzles ofthe first printing unit as a faulty nozzle; designating the faultynozzle as inactive and designating one of the inactive nozzles of thefirst printing unit as a new active nozzle, so as the new active nozzlereplaces the faulty nozzle.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein inspectingcomprises: acquiring images of ejections of droplets performed by thenozzles of the first printing unit; and identifying the faulty nozzlebased on an analysis of the images.
 7. The method of claim 6, whereinthe analysis comprises determining the size of droplets and the size ofdeviation of a jetting direction from a predetermined direction.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein depositing is depositing an electricallyconductive material on one of a printed card board or a semiconductorwafer to produce metallization conduction lines.
 9. The method of claim1, wherein the new set of active nozzles is chosen based on a requireddroplet size.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the new set of activenozzles is chosen based on the degree of stability of jetting from thenozzles.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the new set of activenozzles is chosen based the jetting direction of the nozzles.